Expecto Patronum || Cedric Diggory x Hufflepuff Female Reader

~ f i v e ~

TW: abuse. I don't go into much detail about it but I think there should still be a trigger warning.

The storm is fierce. Rain falls and trickles into the Black Lake. Across the pitch, lightning flashes and thunder booms. The benches are soaked; no way anyone is sitting down in this weather.

I pull my jacket over my Hufflepuff robes and pull the hood down over my head. I had pulled my long h/c into a ponytail in the back to protect it from getting soaked.

I set my binoculars onto my eyes to try and find my house team. Instantly, the lenses flood up with water.

What am I going to do? There's no way I am going to watch the game through binoculars that get wet immediately.

Suddenly, a girl appears next to me. She has bushy brown hair and brown eyes. She is a little younger than me and a Gryffindor.

"Do you need help with that?" she asks, looking at my binoculars.

"Um yes please," I hold them out for her.
She takes her wand and says "Impervius."

I put on my binoculars again and wait a few seconds. Not a single drop covers the lenses.

"Thank you so much-" I stop, realizing I hadn't asked for her name.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she smiles. "Gryffindor, third year."

"y/n Freeman," I smile. "Hufflepuff, fifth year."

"Oh wow. Never thought I would meet you," she seems in awe. "You know you're very popular among third years-"

"I know," I interrupt. "I don't really like it though."

"Well, I wouldn't know."

"Tell me, why are you in the Hufflepuff stands? Not to be rude at all," I ask her.

"I wanted to go over all the stands and help everyone. The storm is really strong today," she pulls her wet brown hair behind her ear.

"No kidding," I agree. "It seems... magically strong though. I don't know how to explain it."

She looks up at the sky concerningly. "I agree. But I have to go help others now. I'll see you later y/n."

"Ok, bye Hermione. Hope to talk to you again," I smile at her as she goes to help other students.

I put my new water-repelling binoculars to my eyes and look for Cedric. I spot him. He's the captain of the team so he's the first out of the locker room. He flies out on his broom, the rest of the team following him in formation. He settles in the middle of the field, the team spanning out behind him.

He turns around to the side and sees me. I smile and wave. His grin warms my cold hands and gives me a fuzzy feeling all over.
When he turns around and I glare at myself if that's even possible.

I watch as Cedric flies to shake hands with Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor captain. Madam Hooch calls the start of the match and the teams disperse.

During the match, the storm grows stronger. Rain starts pelting onto my jacket hood, the cold overtaking every muscle in my body. My bones are practically frozen and my teeth are chattering.

Despite the grueling weather, I am overcome with something more sickening. I hope that Cedric stays safe from the evil magic of this weather. There is definitely something wrong with this weather. Magically wrong.

I hold my breath as I see Cedric falling. He's losing altitude fast.

"CEDRIC!" I yell. I don't care that I'm yelling his name because practically the entire Hufflepuff stands is yelling his name.

My pulse settles down back to normal when I see him get control of his broom again and start to fly up back into the storm clouds.

A few minutes has passed since the Hufflepuffs had a scare and suddenly the cold amplifies by 10x. I pull my jacket closer before realizing that it's practically touching my skin. My rain boots are certainly not keeping me warm. I look up into the sky with my binoculars so as not to get my eyes soaked.

And that's when I see it. Shadowy, hooded figures. They're descending on the stands quickly, the cold not affecting them. That's when I realize, they are causing the cold.
Dementors I think to myself. Instantly I am overcome with the darkest memories of my past.

Over the summer, my father's ministry work had begun to get too much. He's already struggling being an employee in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ever since the breakout of Sirius Black, his department has been put on edge too, with even stricter requirements given that the Ministry of Magic needed to find Black without doing magic in front of muggles.
On the long days, he would come home, engulfed in sweat, but the day isn't over yet.

The smallest things would annoy him. He would go on a rampage around the house and would start throwing things at me. I couldn't run or else he'd just track me down and make everything worse. So I just stood there, shielding myself with my arms from all the sharp objects he threw.

I felt all of this as I stood there in the cold. I'll never be happy again. This is my life now. No mother, no Hufflepuff friends, no students, no Sofia, no Leona, no Cedric.

I stop. No Cedric. No, that can't be right. Cedric is always there. No matter what. I latch on to that memory of just Cedric's being and take out my wand. At this point, a dementor is inches away from the Hufflepuff bleachers. All the other Hufflepuffs are shivering like crazy from the immense cold. Some of them were screaming and pleading with the unmerciful black figures.

"Expecto Patronum!" I yell, waving my wand. At once, a ball of light glows from my wand. It looks like a strong Lumos Maxima but it's got a bluish glow. It's not a full patronus, but it's an incorporeal one. And that's as far as I've ever gotten.

The dementor is knocked back into its friends (if they could even be called friends...) who are flying up now. I suppose they realize that Sirius Black is not hiding in the Hufflepuff stands.

I stood there, shocked at what I had accomplished. I was half-way from my goal!

I don't have much time to rejoice as suddenly, a Gryffindor falls from the sky. He has jet black hair and he looks like he's wearing glasses. He's wet, no surprise, and he looks like he's about Hermione's height. He's free-falling from who knows how high. His broom flies free and lands straight into the Whomping Willow. The tree smashes his broom and I look away. That was an extremely fast broom. I truly felt bad for him.

Professors rushed out to take the boy's limp body to the Hospital Wing. Noticing his features, I realize that he's Harry Potter, the boy who lived, himself.

At that moment I had completely forgotten about the match until I saw my best friend fly from the sky, holding the golden snitch above his head, triumphantly. He looks at me and smiles, expecting a warm smile back. Instead he sees that my eyes are pinned on another boy. He looks at the famous third-year and drops the hand that's holding the snitch. His smile is wiped from his face. He runs up to the professors who are carrying the body. He looks alarmed.

a/n: This was a much more descriptive chapter with not a lot of dialogue. Tell me if you like the dialogue chapters more or the descriptive chapters or both. Thank you for reading! ~ Chloe